Thread: Correct construction????

Inspected a house near the beach today that had exterior block walls with interior beams made of 2 2 x 10s with plywood sandwiched in between. As you can see by the pictures the beams are supported by 4 x 4s. One of the 4 x 4s near the entrance of the garage (single car garage) is bowed or deflected from the weight. That is the picture of the single 4 x 4. These beams traveled the entire width of the house sitting on a 4 x 4 at each end next to the foundation wall. My gut tells me this is not right.

Any comments or help would be appreciated. I told the customer that we may have to have an engineering firm evaluate this.


Jim Murphy

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I doubt if they have any approved plans for that.

I wonder if the slab is thicker or a footer is under those posts??

I would also recommend an engineer!

Regarding the Charles Darwin garage; PE required asap. What happens when Clyde comes home sloshed and his car takes out one of those silly 4x4 posts?

Note the sheetmetal top-cap connections, like that's going to help?

Jim,
This is not correct contruction by any reasonable standard.
Is this a two story house? The weight could be substantial on that girder if interior loads beyond the floor above the garage bear onto that member? The load path must be evaluated.
The exposed wood girder or its supports are not fire protected in the garage?
The bowing 4" x 4" 's may be overstresssed, are their any grade stamps on that lumber?
There may not be footings beneath these posts, and they are not definately not vehicule protected.
Definately need engineering input for the exact remedies.
However, a competant home inspector would flag and report on these items as being substandard construction. You can complete your report from what was visible on this BAD JOB! The engineer will provide the specialist input that your report deems necessary.
What other latent problems might there be lurking in the walls and ceilings?

Evan Grugett

Evan Grugett Inspections
“Educating the Real Estate Consumer”

PO Box 188
Eastchester, NY 10709
914-723-5795
egrugett@optonline.net

Hi all:

** 4x4 = NOT strucural (good for fence posts, though) - at least here (B.C., Canada)...**

What idiot put that together ???

Run for the hlls !


-Glenn Duxbury, CHI

Originally Posted by Jerry McCarthy

Regarding the Charles Darwin garage; PE required asap. What happens when Clyde comes home sloshed and his car takes out one of those silly 4x4 posts?

Screw clyde, gravity is doing the same job only slower.

Clyde's fix will be to add a couple more 4X4's to shore er up

Looks like sombody used a Home Depot do it yourself deck kit.

Forget about the countless items Even mentioned and I am sure there are a lot more.

If just one of those 4x4 goes out the home is going to collapse in on itself. The severity of that alone would be enough for even the most lost City inspector to understand and put a tag on the front door as unsafe dwelling, do not enter.

I saw a 4 unit Town House collapse due to temp A frames (should not have been) in the basement and the a totally lost builder told 2 non English speaking laborers to knock out because he thought his crew put the permanent columns in that arrived that morning but he did not ask or check.

They started smashing the center A frame with a sledge hammer and everyone outside just heard serious cracking. The two men came running out of the basement and the building started to fold in on self. The building looked like a card board box being sucked in on all 4 sides. No one was hurt.

The entire project wound up being shut down for not even being close to sub standard framing throughout. There is a lot more to this story but it would take a week to tell it. A few pay offs.